Anachron

The Battle for Jovix

The worst part about space combat is the amount of time involved.  The distances are so ridiculously huge that it can take several minutes to perform even simple manoeuvres.  It isn't like air combat where fighter jets cover a hundred kilometers to get to the battle in just a few minutes, then zip around each other and finish the fight in just a few more minutes.  Their entire battle is over faster than ours even begins.

Half an hour after the preparatory meeting, a dozen missiles were outfitted to be used as proximity mines, and we were starting to eject them into the path of the incoming Markadian fleet.  A few more missiles were launched over the next few minutes, so that 45 minutes after the meeting, close to twenty missiles were waiting for the Markadians.  We stopped dispensing the missiles at that point, because we didn't want to let the enemy to see what was going on until it was too late.

More painful waiting.  After the furor in the weapons area where they were trying to get as many missiles ready as possible in such a short amount of time, this was the worst.  I couldn't do anything except sit and wait; and think.  What if I was wrong?  Could I really outsmart the great Rejjik the Conqueror?  Even if we did win this battle, what would come after it?  I knew there were much larger ships waiting just one jump away.  Otherwise, they wouldn't have been able to send a swarm of fighters at us.

After fifteen minutes of waiting, we passed the Markadian fleet.  Maybe passed isn't the right word; at our closest approach we were still nearly a hundred thousand kilometers apart.  At that point, we were further from the planet than the invading Markadians.  The key moment was coming.

Our daredevil navigator had been resting for his big moment.  This was going to take all his skill to pull off, and the last thing I would need was for him to be tired.  I pressed the button for the intercom to contact him.  I couldn't help but think he better not be asleep.

"Get up here.  It's time."

Within moments, he was on the bridge.  His uniform wasn't spotless, but at least he had one on.  He quickly traded places with the navigator on duty.

Up until then, the sensor tech had been quietly monitoring his instruments.  At this point, though, he began to speak up.

"Sir."

"What is it?"

"The Markadian fleet is turning to pursue."

"That's to be expected."  Then I turned to the intercom and sent a message down to engineering.  "Are you just about ready for that wormhole?"

"Yes, Sir.  Ready when you are."

"Good."  I cut off the intercom and turned back to the sensor operator.  "Let me know when they're headed this way."

While the Markadians turned, I had time again to think.  If they had turned sooner, it would have hurt my plan, but they didn't know what I was planning.  They could have forced a head-on pass by turning sooner, but then the Watchdog could have seriously damaged one of them.  This way, they would be swooping in behind us as we make our escape.  Obviously, they thought we were trying to escape, which is precisely what I wanted them to think.  Depending on how long we waited until we created our wormhole, they might even have been able to follow us through.

I imagined the Watchdog deftly dodging its own wormhole while a Markadian fighter or two entered into an emergency wormhole to be taken who-knows-where.  What a delightful thought.  I couldn't let it get that close, though.  At that distance, they might recognize that we weren't actually going through.

"Their direction is no longer toward the planet.  They're coming toward us now."

It would still be several minutes before the Markadian fleet was actually coming directly at us, but if I waited for that, the deception might not work.